Soak Away!

[Catcher]

Good afternoon,

I have recently had a front wall built and have been advised that I now need to replace the soak-away.

Thinking ahead I not only need to remove the existing soak-away but move it approximately 8 feet away as it may be detrimental to any future building.

I have searched everywhere to find out how to make up a soak-away, but everyone tells me different things. One even told me to use milk bottle cages!

I understand that it is different levels of hardcore and stones but how deep do I need to get a man digging?

Can someone please tell me the easiest way to make a soak-away.

Thanking you

 

[noseall]

Hire a mini digger. Dig down to max depth on the boom (2m-ish). Dig the hole about 1.5m square. Fill up to the drain invert with broken bricks or similar sized rubble. Form an outlet out of roughly arranged bricks so that the water can freely spill out of the pipe without becoming blocked. Cut a piece of polythene to cover the rouble. Back-fill with top soil.

The soakaway needs to be 5m from any building.

If the ground slopes then adjust the depth accordingly.

If you have dense clay sub-soil forget it.

 

[Chukka63]

size of hole depends on ground conditions and i always fill the rubble to the top of the pipe myself.and these days i lay a bed of concrete over the poly as councils around here ask for it now.
apart from that nosall seems a good guy and if i werent a builder myself i would employ him.

 

[noseall]

apart from that nosall seems a good guy and if i werent a builder myself i would employ him.

Aw shucks cheers Chuk.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

and if i werent a builder myself

Struth you're joking right!

 

[Thermo]

jus as an alternative you can use large shingle instead of hardcore.

The milk crates youre refering to is the suds systems that a lot of paving companies now produce. An expensive way of doing it.

 

[Chukka63]

advertise you will take brick rubble for nothing.you will get loads for no lay out im sure

 

[RickH]

Hire a mini digger. Dig down to max depth on the boom (2m-ish). Dig the hole about 1.5m square. Fill up to the drain invert with broken bricks or similar sized rubble. Form an outlet out of roughly arranged bricks so that the water can freely spill out of the pipe without becoming blocked. Cut a piece of polythene to cover the rouble. Back-fill with top soil.

The soakaway needs to be 5m from any building.

If the ground slopes then adjust the depth accordingly.

If you have dense clay sub-soil forget it.

This is NOT the way to do it, this has been the bodge approach for years.
You dig a hole, blind base with sand .. lay a large sheet of woven Geotex, place on this a saoakaway crate, ,,, into which you run any drainage pipes surround crate with 50mm clean stone on 3 sides and warp it with the Geotex and then backfill.
If you want a good guide look at ...http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain08.html

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[noseall]

This is NOT the way to do it, this has been the bodge approach for years.

Gosh, does that mean all the soakaways i have built and have been running for decades need digging up and replacing? I must also contact Staffs building control and tell them right away!

Are you aware that soakaway designs vary from county to county and authority to authority?

Are you aware that soakaway designs can vary dependant upon soil conditions?

 

[theoldun]

Sorry nose, but we have to agree with RickH that since the introduction of SUDS, providing you can meet a satisfactory percolation test, then attenuation cells for soak ways are the way to go. The only problem is that RickH has not described the correct installation for storm crates.
On new housing, we stopped digging and filling soak ways in the old traditional method about 15 years ago, and instead started using concrete manhole sections into which we cut drainage slots. On the odd extension we still used old fashioned soak ways, as manhole sections worked out fairly costly.
Since introduction of attenuations cells we now use these across the board.
Reasons. For every metre cube of attenuation cell installed you receive 95% initial storage before your percolation kicks in, against 20% initial storage before percolation on a cube metre of traditional brick or stone filled soak away.
Give it a try next time round nose.
Regards oldun.

 

[noseall]

90% of the ground i work in is sand and gravel. Awesome building ground and even better draining. Hence there are a lot of gravel pits in my area, Hanson love it around here.

It is also true to say that i only build small to medium sized extensions. The holes we dig are probably OTT but deal with anything the roof surface area can throw at them.

P.S. what do SUDS do?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Your missus shoves it in the washing machine nose!

 

[theoldun]

Nose, our post was not meant to knock you in any way but just to express our opinion with regard to soak ways. If you think about it, we feel it is pointless to excavate a pit then to put 80% back in leaving only 20% of voids.
You are very lucky to have such a forgiving ground in your area with a suspected percolation equivalent of dropping a cold pint after finishing work on a hot summers day.
Regards SUDs , Sustainable Urban Drainage. Have copied and posted the following.
Key Principles
Sustainable drainage is a departure from the traditional approach to draining sites. There are some key principles that influence the planning and design process enabling them to mimic natural drainage by:
storing runoff and releasing it slowly (attenuation)
allowing water to soak into the ground (infiltration)
Slowly transporting (conveying) water on the surface
filtering out pollutants
allowing sediments to settle out by controlling the flow of the water
If you would like more information, then read the article by Tony McCormak in Paving Expert who describes it in laymans English.
Regards oldun

 

[noseall]

Your missus shoves it in the washing machine nose!

Aah, geddit.

 

[stuart45]

oldun,
Are you sure it's not 30% voids for rubble?
Building Control allow rubble filled soakaways here, even though its clay soil. It just means you have to dig them about 3 times the size as for crates. The main thing they want is the woven G/T around the sides and top.